THE PRESENT, THIRD
BARDOR TULKU RINPOCHE was born in 1950 in Kham,
East Tibet. He was recognized by His Holiness the Sixteenth
Gyalwa Karmapa at a very early age. Even after his recognition
he maintained a nomadic life style with his family and Dharma
tutor who were all constantly on the move with the yaks and
dris that they grazed.

Rinpoche was quite young when the family left East Tibet
on a journey that took them first to Lhasa and then on to
Tsurphu. From there, they travelled to Drikung where they
were to remain for several years at the home of his grandparents.
With the Chinese Communist occupation of Tibet, the political
and social conditions worsened.

Rinpoche's family, then a party of thirteen, set out towards
India along with many other Tibetans who were also fleeing
the fighting that was spreading toward them from Lhasa. They
traveled through Kong Po and crossed the Himalayan mountain
range, braved 17,000 foot passes, and then descended into
the hot jungles of Assam, India. It was there, while in Pemakor near Assam, when Rinpoche
was nine years old, that one after another of his family members
died as they failed to adjust to the tropical heat.

When his father,
the very last member of his family, died, Rinpoche
set out with a twelve year old friend and a group
of other Tibetans who had also fled their homeland.
At the township known as Bomdila, where the borders
of Tibet, Bhutan and Assam, India meet, a bombing
raid dispersed the group. Rinpoche and his young friend
fled the attack and walked continuously for a day
and a half. The two friends traveled westward along
the border of Bhutan and India, through Gohat and
Siriguri to Darjeeling. Upon arrival in Darjeeling,
His Holiness the Sixteenth Karmapa was notified that
Rinpoche had safely made his way out of Tibet. Filled
with joy at the good news, His Holiness arranged for
Rinpoche to be brought to Sikkim, and for Rinpoche's
friend to be taken care of. It was at Rumtek Monastery
in Sikkim, under the tutelage of His Holiness Karmapa,
that Rinpoche's formal training as a tulku began.

After completing many years of study and practice, Bardor
Tulku Rinpoche accompanied the Sixteenth Karmapa on his world
tours in 1974 and 1976. It was in 1977 though, that His Holiness
asked Rinpoche to remain in New York at Karma Triyana Dharmachakra.
During his first two years at Karma Triyana Dharmachakra,
Rinpoche worked side-by-side with the staff to renovate and
winterize the house and prepare for the last visit
to the West of His Holiness as the Sixteenth Karmapa. In 1980, during that
last visit, His Holiness directed that His monastery and Seat
in North America be established at Karma Triyana Dharmachakra,
and performed the formal investiture. In 1981, His Holiness
instructed H.E. Gyaltsab Rinpoche to make arrangements to
conduct the groundbreaking ceremony. After the groundbreaking
ceremony in May of 1982, Bardor Rinpoche directed the construction
plans and activities, and labored each day to build the monastery.

Bardor Rinpoche
at work in Woodstock, New York on the construction of
the Karma Triyana Dharmachakra monastery in 1982.

In 1983 and 1984 Rinpoche visited Taiwan and Hong Kong where
he taught the Dharma and was enthusiastically received by
hundreds of students and practitioners there. During the years
1985 through 1987 Rinpoche spent many months in Nepal supervising
the construction of Karma Triyana Dharmachakra's statues and
ornaments: the Buddha rupa, the deer and Dharmachakra, the
Gengura spire for the top of the monastery, and the Sixteen
Arhats for the library shrine. He returned in 1988 with Tinley
Chojor, who has since masterfully rendered traditional decorative
painting of the monastery. In 1989, Rinpoche was joined by
his wife, Sonam Chotso and daughter, Karma Sonam Wangmo. The
following January, on the concluding evening of a seminar
on the Twenty-one Taras and just shortly after having given
the Green Tara Empowerment, Rinpoche took his wife to a local
hospital where his second daughter, Karma Chimey Chodron,
was born. Within two years, his third daughter, Rigdzin Chodron
was born.

Guru Rinpoche
(Padmasambhava) was the teacher of Nupchen Sangye Yeshe,
an early incarnation of Bardor Rinpoche.

The First Bardor Rinpoche, Jikme Chokyi Senge, was born in 1836 and passed away in 1918. He was the reincarnation of Nupchen Sangye Yeshe, one of the twenty-five great disciples of Guru Padmasambhava. He was a terton (finder of hidden treasures), and became the First Bardor Rinpoche when Guru Rinpoche gave him the name "Barway Dorje" (Blazing Vajra). He established Raktrul Monastery in Kham, East Tibet, toward the end of his life.

The Second Bardor Tulku was born in Kham, East Tibet, with
the family name of Yi Mar Pon Tshang. He spent his early years
at Situ Rinpoche's Palpung Monastery. Later, he served for
many years as the Appointment Secretary to His Holiness the
Sixteenth Karmapa at Tsurphu Monastery.

Because the monks at Ratrulgon Monastery sought Bardor Rinpoche's
help so insistently, His Holiness Karmapa gave him permission
to return there for one year. Once there, though, his duties
were of such proportions that his stay subsequently lasted
several years. Truly regretting this delay, Bardor Rinpoche
prostrated along the entire journey back to Tsurphu Monastery.
Following that, Rinpoche remained in the service of His Holiness
for some time, only to be again summoned by the monks of his
Monastery. This time, while he was at Ratrulgon Monastery,
the King of Nanchen petitioned him to perform many rites and
rituals. Consequently, with this second journey and all that
it entailed, Bardor Tulku Rinpoche was not to see His Holiness
again, until his next incarnation.